I have a ridiculous collection of so called "classic literature". For some reason I just love reading them even though everyone around me thinks they're dull and boring. Right now I'm looking for a book that is more of an escape rather than intellectually stimulating.
Thanks for the suggestion, though, I am a big classics fan (except for Thomas Hardy. I hate you Harding, you suck! I'm still not sure why I read four of your novels but they were dry as fuck and I don't keep them on my bookcase anymore, so HA!

Sorry about the little rant there but I really dislike his weirting, and by extension, him. You said you were into sci-fi, any recommendations of a good book/ series I can escape into?

I was an English major and my favorite part of it was reading such a variety of poetry and prose. Yeah, Thomas Hardy is not someone I would chose to read for pleasure.

I have had very little time to read that past few years, (thankfully, that seems to be improving) but I did read the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson a couple months ago and enjoyed it. His short novel, The Emperor's Soul, was also good. I have more of his books I received for Christmas, but I haven't been abe to read them yet. I found his ways of incorporating magic and fantasy into his worlds interesting, fun, and new.

Sadly, he is the only new author I've read recently.

As for old favorites, Anne McCaffrey is my second favorite author, behind Jane Austen (not counting poetry and some prose, but those are like an art-form unto itself). I have enjoyed most of her series but The Dragonrider series is my favorite. Her early stuff can be a little rough around the edges, but that is not too surprising. I may be biased though in my love for her books, just a warning. I do love to escape into them though, I have literally lost whole weekends chain-reading her Dragonrider books because I love her characters.

The Ender series by Orson Scott Card is another favorite of mine. Chances are you have already read or heard of it though.

Harry Harrison's Eden books (I forget the exact titles) are favorites of mine too. They are fantasy and alternate history in the sense that humans didn't become the dominant (or only one) species.

And finally, because I have to leave to go have lunch with my son up at his school in 2 minutes, Niven's Integral Trees. Another of my favorites.

It is hard to choose. Especially not knowing your tastes. Though I just realized, these are mostly along the fantasy lines, not Sci Fi. I'll have to give this more thought and get back to you later. I still love all the books I've mentioned though and have gotten 'lost' in them many times!_________________"Her kisses left something to be desired -- the rest of her. "

oooo - i'd forgotten niven. anything of his is good. he does tend to be pretty solidly grounded in science, even if some of the results are fantastical. if you want a series, there are the ringworld books (ringworld, ringworld engineers, the ringworld throne, ringworld's children), which also have some offshoots (like 'protector') - actually, most of his "known world" stuff is set in the same universe, so they sort of relate.

drat - now i'm going to have to dig out my ringworld books and read them all together._________________aka: neverscared!
a flux of vibrant matter

It's "Known Space," IIRC. And Beowulf Shaeffer, Gil Hamilton, and the Puppeteers all also have mini-series of around five books, each, in it, for those who find thirty novels and short-story collections spanning a handful of centuries to be a daunting undertaking.

Niven doesn't limit himself to Known Space, either. His Draco's Tavern and Sven the Time Traveler series are excellent reading, too, as are his collaborative works with authors such as Steven Barnes and Jerry Pournelle. His speculative essays are also a lot of fun; check out "Man of Steel; Woman of Kleenex" in which he muses on what must be some of the problems with Superman's sex life!

So, yeah, resounding praise for Larry Niven. Although he is younger than Asimov and Heinlein, he has earned a place among the grandmasters of science fiction._________________I am only a somewhat arbitrary sequence of raised and lowered voltages to which your mind insists upon assigning meaning

Bob Dylan's Chronicles, Volume I. it would probably be more meaningful if i knew anything about the late 50s and early 60s folk scene, or Bob Dylan's repertoire. related to that, it would probably help if any talk of Bob Dylan didn't make me immediately think of this.

i'm supposed to read this for a class, for which i eventually have to produce an "intellectual autobiography," using Dylan's book as a model. i have no idea how i'm going to do that, because Bob Dylan apparently had a much more interesting life than me (which you would expect, since he got rich and famous by singing through his sinuses and i didn't), and because after reading it i still have only the vaguest idea of what the hell Bob Dylan's intellectual life was like.

which is not helped by the extreme likelihood that not even Bob Dylan knows what Bob Dylan's intellectual life was like.

I wish I could help. I am a SF&F fan myself. And I have loved Jane Austen for many, many years.
My suggestion would be for her to look for used Literature books at a nearby College Bookstore. Especially Anthologies. You are bound to find a few new authors you may like that way. Then you can look for their books. I am sure there are Lit classes that focus on stories from that time period even. Find out what authors and textbooks they are using. Though, regular bookstores and libraries may also carry collections too. There are some authors I never would have read if I hadn't read a story of two of theirs in a collection and then wanted to read more of their works.

I have a ridiculous collection of so called "classic literature". For some reason I just love reading them even though everyone around me thinks they're dull and boring. Right now I'm looking for a book that is more of an escape rather than intellectually stimulating.
Thanks for the suggestion, though, I am a big classics fan (except for Thomas Hardy. I hate you Harding, you suck! I'm still not sure why I read four of your novels but they were dry as fuck and I don't keep them on my bookcase anymore, so HA!

Sorry about the little rant there but I really dislike his weirting, and by extension, him. You said you were into sci-fi, any recommendations of a good book/ series I can escape into?

Fun Fact: Many, if not most 'classics' would never get published today._________________...if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.http://about.me/omardrake

So my mom is looking for good books but her taste is VASTLY different than mine so I'm kinda ass at giving her recommendations. She recently read Forgotten Garden by Kate Morgan and loved it, she also said she likes stuff set in the 20's, 30's, and 40's a lot and that she likes realistic stories (this is the big sticker, almost everything I read is either sci-fi or fantasty). She doesn't need a happy ending, but she doesn't mind them either.

I figured... couldn't hurt to ask if anyone has any recommendations? I'd appreciate it!

Not sure if it really would meet enough of the criteria, but I would recommend anything by Sherman Alexie, but his language can get kinda harsh. Gabriel García Márquez is another great author, although I've only read Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude, but still phenomenal works._________________...if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.http://about.me/omardrake

Nearly finished with the Star Wars Thrawn trilogy. I'd been interested in reading them for awhile and I was able to get some cheap used copies on vacation. I'm really enjoying them a lot. Great extension from the original trilogy as I had been told. Although it sounds like the next trilogy will have nothing to do with any of the current books out. So I will likely be disappointed in the upcoming movies after reading these.

I unfortunately have put the Amber chronicles on hold for now because I just couldn't get into it. I will come back to it eventually and try again._________________Eureka00: "Reminding you of your addictions" since 1982.

So my mom is looking for good books but her taste is VASTLY different than mine so I'm kinda ass at giving her recommendations. She recently read Forgotten Garden by Kate Morgan and loved it, she also said she likes stuff set in the 20's, 30's, and 40's a lot and that she likes realistic stories (this is the big sticker, almost everything I read is either sci-fi or fantasty). She doesn't need a happy ending, but she doesn't mind them either.

I figured... couldn't hurt to ask if anyone has any recommendations? I'd appreciate it!

Not sure if it really would meet enough of the criteria, but I would recommend anything by Sherman Alexie, but his language can get kinda harsh. Gabriel García Márquez is another great author, although I've only read Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude, but still phenomenal works.

Oh Lord I had forgotten One Hundred Years of Solitude...

That's probably because it got lost in the highschool Fugue of "LET'S FORCE YOU TO READ EVERY DEPRESSING/NIHILISTIC BOOK EVER" fun run.
All Quiet On The Western Front, of Mice and Men, As I Lay Dying, Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye, 1984, Animal Farm...

Highschool fucking *ruined* me for depressing/nihilistic endings. I can no longer tolerate them. It probably does not help that I am a *very* empathetic person/a marshmallow, so books with totally depressing endings put me in a funk for a few days. Bittersweet? Bittersweet is fine!

But depressing "And then everyone/most people had horrible things happen to them and were sad/crazy/broken forever (I'm looking at you, The Bluest Eye) And/or everyone died " endings? No. I feel like I've wasted my time reading the book/watching the movie/playing the game. If I want depressing, I can go watch the news, damnit.

/This is not to say Depressing endings/Kill-em-all endings are without merit! I am just ranting for why I personally don't like them. Really do blame highschool for ruining me on depressing endings._________________"No, but evil is still being --Is having reason-- Being reasonable! Mousie understands? Is always being reason. Is punishing world for not being... Like in head. Is always reason. World should be different, is reason."
-Ed, from Digger

Joined: 09 Jul 2006Posts: 9718Location: I have to be somewhere? ::runs around frantically::

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 6:20 pm Post subject:

Finnegan wrote:

cixelsyD wrote:

I just read Dune, and now I am sad that it is gone ._.

that's the hallmark of a good book.

True Story!

I've been reading fluff but fun fluff! Patricia Briggs writes fun paranormal romance stories that are much higher quality than the usual crap. She recently republished a polished version of her first novel along with the unpublished sequel. I enjoyed both. They are published together in Shifter's Wolf. It is a stand alone story too which is nice. Were there areas which were so amateur it hurt? Yes, but many fewer areas than I expected. As usual, her stories are compelling and interesting. I always enjoy reading her work.

The other romance writer I read is Jacqueline Cary - and she doesn't write fluff. Her epic stories are awesome and the sex is required as part of the storyline instead of tacked on. She has a short story that gives backstory to a character that dies early in the original series and it was heartbreaking and excellent - "You and You Alone" from Songs of Love Lost and Found. Much better if you have already read Kushiel's Dart - which you should do. Excellent series._________________Before God created Las he pondered on all the aspects a woman might have, he considered which ones would look good super-inflated and which ones to leave alone.
After much deliberation he gave her a giant comfort zone. - Michael

So, Jim Butcher did some interviews recently and described the basic plot of the next Dresden book:

Quote:

The next novel is called Skin Game. In it, we find out that Mab has various debts which she has incurred over the years and Mab is very keen on getting her debts paid, and when one of the people she owes shows up and asks for a favour, she loans him Harry Dresden in order to help him. So Harry is going to find himself, by command of Queen Mab, assisting Nicodemus Archleon in a heist. They’re going on a bank job, and they’re going to knock over the vault of Hades — the Lord of the Underworld.

Want. NAO._________________The older I get, the more certain I become of one thing. True and abiding cynicism is simply a form of cowardice.